


Family from the Ashes

by Merfilly



Category: Forever Knight
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 11:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4433522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick is ash, Lacroix is gone, and yet something stirs Janette's interest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family from the Ashes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadySilver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/gifts).



**Medical Examiner Killed. Missing Officer Suspected.**

Janette, much aggrieved by all that had transpired since she had last seen Nic, flung the paper away. Her slowly returning senses told her that Lacroix was far from this cursed city. Nic…

…Nic was dead. She knew it, just as she had known when he failed to kill their mutual creator. The blood sang to its own, and that song was silent forever. He'd found his damnable mortality in the way that she had supposed all along.

"I hate you, Nicolas," she whispered, but a tear escaped her control as she sipped her blood-wine in the dark corner of what had once been her club.

* * *

It was less that Janette cared about anyone in this city and more the simple fact that it was familiar that made her remain. Perhaps it was because she felt a duty to Lacroix that meant she spent several nights making certain all spaces used by him, and Nic, were clear of any incriminating evidence. Granted, Nic's apartment was a catastrophe in and of itself, but there had been a helpful fire there. That, plus a number of favors pulled, muddled the case against her beloved brother to the point that the case was shelved by the Crown as impossible to investigate, let alone prosecute.

As the weeks ticked by, with Janette tying up loose ends, learning who was dead and who had merely moved on, there was a haunting on the city streets, one claiming mortal lives. Janette would not have ever paid attention to it, if she had not overheard two patrons of the bar mention the name of the victim, triggering memories of another night, when Nic had been alive, coming to her to vent his frustration.

_"I know his guilt, but I can find no evidence to push the case! Captain's told me to walk away."_

_"You could…"_

_"No. Janette, I can't ever be the man I know I am if I take the law into my hands that strongly. I'll just have to … keep looking, even after the case is closed."_

"Nic, with your windmills and false virtues," she murmured to herself, glad the guilty had paid. Only, the patron said this wasn't the first 'sleazeball' to buy the farm in recent weeks. 

"It's like we got an angel out there in the night, finally cleaning up the scum that can't be touched."

Janette let that thought percolate against the vague unease the city continued to foster within her as she continued in her night's routine. Was she truly ill at ease only because of the death, and Lacroix's flight?

Or was her blood being called to by one who did not fully know how to pull on it for aid? Had Nic left a heritage for Janette to discover and nurture?

* * *

Having been challenged to a mystery, Janette made certain the club was in good hands for a few nights, and arranged for a rental away from it. She would need a haven, if she was correct in her suspicions, to hold some necessary conversations. Those two things done, Janette began the dangerous task of hunting a hunter. She was just thankful Nic had been so forthcoming about his little vexations and that her memory was superb. She had a list of the known victims, and could recall a half dozen or so other persons of interest that had escaped true justice through corruption above Nicolas, or by outright bribery.

Had the police been paying attention, they could easily have seen the pattern. Janette was just as relieved that the recent upheavals had them focused on the violence of the streets more than these seemingly natural deaths of people Nic had investigated over the years. The pattern was there, and it did not take Janette long to set up surveillance on the one she thought would be next.

It was not long after Janette took up vigil that she caught the blood calling out to her, and then she saw her prey use stealth to enter the home of the next victim. Janette let her do as she chose, and only dropped in next to her as the woman was leaving the scene of her 'justice'. 

"So kind of you to make it your crusade to finish Nicolas' work in this city, given that you seem to be his last testament."

Janette's words made Natalie whirl, eyes wide in a panic. "How…"

"It is better not spoken of in the open air, Natalie." She held her hand out, projecting safety and companionship through that blood-song between them. "Come. New members of my family do not wander alone, unguided as to the life that awaits for them," Janette said, with only a hint of command. She'd studied Natalie since Nic's involvement with her had revealed a potential rival of the heart. To be high-handed with this one would cost Janette the one thing she needed in eternity.

Family.

* * *

Natalie was watching Janette with the eyes of a woman lost and wary all at once. Janette was uncertain if she could get the woman to trust her, but she had to make the effort. Though Natalie had used her knowledge of Nic to make her kills carefully, there had been too many, in too short a time. Those who watched such things would come and destroy her.

To let the last of Nicolas go by allowing that was impossible in Janette's heart.

"First, I am not angry," Janette began, only to be interrupted, as she suspected, by Natalie's impatient explosion of air and discordant noise.

"Angry? ANGRY? I am the one who is angry. I came to inside a box! I had to get out and I had to hide my tracks at a funeral home and escape, all on my own!" Natalie folded in on herself then, a crumpled effigy of the dynamic woman Janette had studied. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Oui." Janette tilted her chin up, taking a deep breath. "Is it your wish to join him? That could be arranged, though it seems rather pointless and a bit maudlin to consider."

Natalie's eyes blazed with her nature at that suggestion, and Janette could only smile. This would be trying, but Janette would not let this end in failure.

* * *

The pattern had been noted, Janette realized a shade too late. She had gotten Natalie out of the city, rather than allow the constant temptation of the mortal life to stand over her. 

Now the Hunters had found them both, in a small town that was merely a stopping point before the dawn. She forced memories of Nicolas protecting her, protecting Lacroix from her mind as Natalie struggled with one of the three. Janette wrenched at the bolt that had pierced her shoulder, thanks to a quick attempt at dodging, and let her nature out to deal with these intruders in their temporary haven.

Natalie's cry of pain served only to enrage her, bringing the thirst for blood to its fullest peak. She would not let her family suffer! With her full strength unleashed, she threw the one closest to her into the one that was reloading a small crossbow. Why had they kept such antiquated weapons?! Janette hated them, hated the men wielding it now, and she let her instincts drive her to follow through on her attack, boldly slashing and bashing at the pair with enough effect to make the one by Natalie turn. It gave Natalie room to recoup her position and begin to fight more effectively. 

None of the three would be leaving here. There might even be just enough cover for the ladies to vacate the room and find a hiding place for the day, given that this could not have been anything but loud and messy.

* * *

The abandoned motel was by no means secure or even darkened as thoroughly as Janette would prefer, but it had been close enough to get to and into before the sun was too direct. She could only hope the bodies were not found at their previous point of resting until well after dark. No one had seemed to notice the disturbance, and the room was paid for through two nights use.

Janette guided Natalie into the darkest room she could find, then made her sit down.

"How badly injured are you?" 

Natalie looked up at her groggily, then pushed the bed spread off to show the deep slice into her arm and ribcage from the hunter's blade. "I think I levitated, when I saw him aiming for my neck," she answered. Janette chuckled.

"Good."

"Why didn't you let me feed from one of them before you arranged the bodies?" Natalie asked. Janette met her eyes, then gave a small smile.

"Hunters like those, trained to kill our kind, ingest a number of poisons over the years that can weaken or paralyze us. It is better to never, ever drink from a Hunter, especially if injured, for this reason. We will fly, come the night, to the nearest true city, and slake our needs." Janette tore the bedspread to making bindings for Natalie's wounds; she was still young enough to need the psychological reassurance.

"You could have escaped, been free of me," Natalie pointed out, ruthlessly. At those words, Janette reached up and took her chin between thumb and forefinger to make her point clear.

"You chose life. You are mine. I do not abandon that which is mine." 

"Why am I yours?" Natalie demanded, none too sure of herself by the defensive tone. Janette let go of her, giving a small, sad smile.

"Nicolas was dear to me, as he was dear to you. That is one bond between us. The other is that our blood will sing to each other, no matter what. Nic gave me back the night when I meant to die instead. He gave it to you, though he must have believed he failed, to accept death at last. That is a second bond." 

"These things come in threes," Natalie said, half-joking.

Janette nodded, beginning to bandage the ribs. "The third, Natalie, is that you had already roused my respect for being stronger than the usual woman Nicolas was drawn to. Your incessant squabbling with him, your drive to aid his quest, your willingness to stand your ground against him all piqued my interest. And so I will stand by you, in all eternity, to nurture that strength."

Natalie regarded her a long moment, then closed her eyes. Janette noted the tension leave the other woman, making her curious. Then she felt it between them, in the blood.

Natalie had not wished to be an unwanted burden, had needed to be accepted in her own right, and… craved companionship. Janette could, and would, meet all of that. Together, they would face the eternal night while memories of Nicolas faded behind them.


End file.
